Finite element analysis of mechanical properties of bambusa vulgaris bamboo from eastern region of Sumatera Utara

Abstract

Indonesia is the right area to develop bamboo as a construction material because this country is a well-known bamboo producing country in the Asia-Pacific region. One of the bamboo species that can be studied is Bambusa vulgaris because this species grows in almost all parts of Indonesia. This study focused on Finite Element simulation to calculate the compressive strength and tensile strength of Bambusa vulgaris sourced from Deli Serdang, Langkat, and Sedang Bedagai district. The results of the strength obtained from the simulation will be compared with the results from the previous study with the same species and the same location, to see the reliability of the model simulation with software. From simulation results, it is found that the compressive strength is 46.70 MPa, 58.33 MPa, and 47.65 MPa. For tensile strength, the results obtained from the simulation are 194.08 MPa, 182.49 MPa, and 156.44 MPa.The difference given between the simulation result and the test results in previous studies for compressive strength is 5.38 – 10,09% and for tensile strength is 1,96 – 9,39%. This result indicates that simulation with Finite Element Analysis can provide results that are sufficiently close to a laboratory test.